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Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

raspberrypi.org

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Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#171

Post by IanCal »

Mchl wrote: post #130
IanCal wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realise how silly this question may seem but here we go: If I get an ESP8266, I can have something that run code, sit on my home network wirelessly and use it to do things like report on sensor inputs? Am I missing some larger expense that would be required as this seems very cheap compared to other options I've seen.

Simply put ESP8266 & Co. are awesomeness incorporated. http://www.instructables.com/howto/esp8266/

Brilliant, I'll have a look through those. Thanks for the link.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#172

Post by pavlov »

A single transistor cost several dollars in 1950. A full-blown 1GHz computer is now the same price (cheaper even, accounting for inflation).

What will $5 buy in 2080? It's going to be a billion times faster than this, but it's hard to imagine the form factor.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#173

Post by Asmod4n »

edent wrote: post #123
rwmj wrote: post #51

I know I'm complaining about an almost free computer, but ARM11 (ARMv6) isn't compatible with most Linux OSes which long ago moved to ARMv7. If only this was compatible with ARMv7 it would run a lot more stuff.

Not sure I understand. I runs Debian derivatives like Raspian, Ubuntu, and Kali. If you're a masochist it'll run Windows 10 IoT core. https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/ https://www.offensive-security.com/kali-linux/raspberry-pi-l...

The only modern distro it runs is Raspbian. Ubuntu and Kali don't run on it let alone Windows 10 IoT core, same goes for Arch and pretty much everything else.

This is a ARMv6, for which most distros stopped support several years ago if they ever ran on it.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#174

Post by IanCal »

StavrosK wrote: post #168
IanCal wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realise how silly this question may seem but here we go: If I get an ESP8266, I can have something that run code, sit on my home network wirelessly and use it to do things like report on sensor inputs? Am I missing some larger expense that would be required as this seems very cheap compared to other options I've seen.

The cost is $4 for a NodeMCU, $2 for the sensors, $1 for a breadboard to stick them on, and $1 for a microUSB cable to power them from. You can power the sensors from the NodeMCU's Vin, since that's the 5V from the USB. I have done exactly this, it sends values to an MQTT server on my NAS every second or so, which the NAS then adds to Graphite and plots them in Grafana. It also has some logic to act on these values a…

Perfect, thanks, I'll have a look at the NodeMCU, looks like exactly what I'm after.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#175

Post by Vaanir »

StavrosK wrote: post #168
IanCal wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I realise how silly this question may seem but here we go: If I get an ESP8266, I can have something that run code, sit on my home network wirelessly and use it to do things like report on sensor inputs? Am I missing some larger expense that would be required as this seems very cheap compared to other options I've seen.

The cost is $4 for a NodeMCU, $2 for the sensors, $1 for a breadboard to stick them on, and $1 for a microUSB cable to power them from. You can power the sensors from the NodeMCU's Vin, since that's the 5V from the USB. I have done exactly this, it sends values to an MQTT server on my NAS every second or so, which the NAS then adds to Graphite and plots them in Grafana. It also has some logic to act on these values a…

All that terminology at a really low cost, awesome.

I feel like this comment could be turned into a popular blog post.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#176

Post by StavrosK »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #76
de_Selby wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree completely with what you're saying, I think it's almost unfair to be comparing this to an Arduino or NodeMCU - this is orders of magnitude more powerful.

At this price point, for many projects it doesn't matter; you can now use Raspberry Pi as a throwaway SOC for powering little stuff. I wouldn't, for example, put an $35 RPi 2 in charge of a bunch of sensors over my doors, but with $5 RPi it is an option. EDIT: And given the power, you can start offloading computation on what would otherwise be "dumb" control/data acquisition units. Hell, with that much compute you ca…

The only case where it matters for me is that this runs Linux, which means that I'll have an extra computer to secure against intruders. An Arduino can't do as much damage to the rest of the network if it gets hacked.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#177

Post by aqrashik »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #99
oAlbe wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Arduino Uno for $2 Are you sure about this? It doesn't sound... legal.

I meant Chinese clones. Arduino is Open Hardware, it's perfectly legal (that's kind of a point of Open Hardware movement). It's equivalent in form and function to the genuine Arduino made in Italy.

Do you have a link? I was just about to get started on a project and getting a $2 Arduino would be great for tinkering

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#178

Post by girishso »

cconcepts wrote: post #158

Amazing. If only I'd get my act together and do all the amazing stuff I planned when I bought my first pi - then I could justify buying this

Two years after buying mine, I put the pi to a good use only last week! Now I am using it as ad-blocker thanks to http://pi-hole.net/, works like a charm.

I ported the web interface for pi-hole to Go single executable (https://github.com/girishso/pi-hole-web)

Now looking for something interesting to do on my second pi!

Edit: Added pi-hole-web link.

Re: Raspberry Pi Zero: the $5 computer

#180

Post by prophet_ »

cconcepts wrote: post #158

Amazing. If only I'd get my act together and do all the amazing stuff I planned when I bought my first pi - then I could justify buying this

Amusing that most people I speak to (including myself) fall into this category.

Great deal nonetheless, especially when considering the bit where he mentioned being much faster that version 1, which is considerably slow if you ask me.

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